WORKinstead ofentertainment at ScottishHydro, where the resultsclashed with Scotland'sdefeat against Brazil. Chiefexecutive Roger Young andfinance director John Graywere among the handful ofScots who chose not to tunein, prompting the inevitablecomment from Gray: "I ~hope the result is as good asthis one."

Allworkand no play

NATIONWIDE boss BrianDavis yesterday experiencedthe perils of the earlymorning live interview. "In aword," asked Paul Lewis,wearing his Radio 5 hat, "ina year from now will you bechief executive ofNationwide pic?" Davisreplied: "I very much hopeso." It was, of course, all aterrible mistake. ''[' d hadproblems with the earpieceand didn't hear them saypic," he insists.

LAURA Frost, Bloomberg'serstwhile insurancecorrespondent, has moggytrouble. Rascal was caperingon the rooftop of Frost'sVictorian warehouse home,and fell off, breaking a leg.After an emergencyoperation, the cat proceededto pull out the setting pins,and the vet insisted on aspecialist. As Rascal wasuninsured, Frost has paid£2,000to put her togetheragain. "She cost me £10,"says Frost.

Rascal's costlyrooftop ~apers

leading lights are off to playgolf in Ireland to raisemoney for charity. Theevent, which raised £35,000last year, is organised byDubliner Frank O'Neill, aheavyweight director atHarlow Butler. Readers willrecall that six months backO'Neill went on a crash dietshedding 3st in,as manymonths. As expected, half ofit has now returned. "Withall the Guinness, thisweekend won't help mywaistline either," he says,

* * * THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1998 37

D4u'Y

Departed: Jane Cramp

THE City foreign exchang'eswill be quieter than normaltommorrow. Sixty of its

Foreign tothe fore

over the next six months. Hewas duly contacted bySingers and told he had won.On the morning of thepresentation earlier thisweek, he was told that therehad been a counting errorand that the winner was theaptly named Brian Patient, aformer Branston & Gothardfund manager. Luckily, Hartis not keen on keeping fitand was happy not to win -the first prize was a pair ofclimbing boots. "I thinkthey are relieved that acorporate financier did notwin it," says Hart.

Cramp goesoverboardMORE intrigue at LLP,therecently floated Lloyd's Listpublishing company.Chiefexecutive David Gilbertsonhas announced that fellowdirector Jane Cramp, head ofits reference and publishingdivision, has left "to pursueother interests". She was atthe company for 10yearsand her abrupt departurehas mystified staff. LLPdeclined to comment.Meanwhile, Gilbo has yet tochoose the next editor ofLloyd's List. Anannouncement is imminent.

Hart forcedto climb downTHE celebrations have beencancelled in the Adam Harthousehold, The Peel Huntcorporate financier visitedOctober's Singer &Friedlander CompanyInvestor Show and entered acompetition to predict thethree exhibitors with thebest-performing share prices

KARLSnowden, theheaviest hiUer in corporateaffairs at Allied Dunbar, hassurvived an appearance onChannel4's afternoon quizshow Fifteen-to-One. Thetrivia buff was nominated byhis 15-year-old son and onlyfound out when theproducers sent him aninvitation to audition. Hesquared up well to theprogramme's mildlyfrightening quizmasterWilliam GStewart, finishingsecond on the show butfailing to qualify for thisyear's final.

Snowden pippedat the post

Donovan'sbeef withShell on-lineHIGH court writs have beenfiled against Shell UK byindependent marketing manJohn Donovan. Through hiscompany, DonMarketing,he claims that in 1989he wasthe brains behind Shell'sSmart Card scheme.Donovan is alleging a

breach of confidence andbreach of contract and hasalso filed a separate writ forlibel. He is talking of "multi-million pound" damages.Suffolk-based Donovan ispublicising his gripes on twoelaborate and colourfulinternet websites, don-marketing. com and shell-shareholders.org. He hasalso decided to book advertsin the marketing press.A spokesman for Shell UK

says: "The matter is beingstrongly contested. It is notappropriate to commentfurther."

outNEWS

east Lincolnshire. Thecheapest place to buy a homein the first quarter of thisyear was in Hull, where atypical home cost £34,531.London was the most expen-sive place to buy a home -and the priciest London bor-ough was Kensington &Chelsea where a typicalhome cost £287,592.The Land Registry's

review of 1997 showed thate highest volume of sales

wa.sin the £50,001 to £60,000~~c~. c.?~p~r;,e~~!.h:...I .....

By Charlotte Beugge

BUSINE

Market itt SE setsthe pace' for risein house prices

HOUSE prices in Englandand Wales rose by 9'4pc overthe year to the first quarter,says the Land Registry.However, transactions

over the same period fell by3·7pc. In Greater London,transactions for the year toMarch were 26,745 against28,043for the year to March1997.The shortage of proper-ties last year meant that theaverage price paid for a homein the capital last year was£121,813against £107,953.The figures show that th

• _ _ • ~ A.'

son

Hambrossoars to£99·2m

Life's a beach: Hyder chief executive Graham Hawker checks the coast is clean

By Nina Mo'!tagu-Smlth

HAMBRQS, the veteraninvestment bank that is inthe process of being bro-ken up, yesterday posted afull-year pre-tax profit of£99'2m, against £64·7mlast time.Profits were boosted by

a £19·6m gain on disposals,including the sale of thegroup's former bankingbusiness.Sir Chips Keswick, the

chairman, said that the de-merger of Hambros' 51pc-owned estate agency busi-ness, Hambro Country-wide, was on schedule

tioawas 184pc at the end ofMarch.Hyder posted a 19pc fall in

pre-tax profits to £168'5m,struck after a £40m charge,mainly for combining its util-ity businesses into a singlemanagement structure. Aftera £282m windfall tax provi-sion, the group incurred a netloss of£127m.Investment totalled £276m,

two-thirds of which was forenvironmental improve-ments. In Wales it now has 13Blue Flag beaches.Mr Hawker said profits

would have been £19·1mbet-ter, but for the costs of mar-keting its new gas services,preparing for competition inthe electricity market andupgrading computers for themillennium date change.Hyder has won contracts to

supply 400,000 gas custom-ers. It now supplies roughly aquarter of its customers withwater, electricity and gas.

"It shows the multi-utilityidea is working," said MrHawker, who revealed he hadalso had talks to supply tele-com services.

on-regulated businessesimproved profits from £32·6mto £47'8m,contributing 16pcofprofits before interest and tax.

By Nina Montagu-Smith.r

By Alistair Osborne

STAVELEY Industries, the The charge also includedengineering and salt-pro duc- redundancy costs at the for-ing group, is conducting a mer Chronos Richardsonstrategic review after post- business, settlement of liti-ing a £74·1m full-year, pre- gation over a 10-year con-tax loss. tract in the service division,Chief executive Chris and surplus property and

Woodwark, who has been assets provisions.with the company for just However, profits beforeone month, said the pre-tax tax and exceptional charges,deficit reflected a £79·6m tumbled from £21·3m to'loss on the disposal of the £8'8m, on sales marginal~ygroup's former Chronos lower at £394m.Richardson and Weigh- Mr Woodwark said the

r Trnnlv h.u.£.in.~A" to P"":'L!2-1Do~.BL'U.1. ........ b...-a.A.-.b. ......ft..-..-.b..;...-..b....,

DAILY TELEGRAPH

HYDER, the multi-utilityformed from the integrationof Welsh Water and Swalec,yesterday said that it waskeeping its dividend policy"under review" because ofthe uncertainty surroundingregulatory price reviews.The decision sent the

shares down 24Y2P to 980p.House broker DresdnerKleinwort Benson cut its divi-dend forecast and nowexpects real dividend growthof 5pc a year instead of 8pcand a sector average of7Y2PC.The company is deferring

until April 6 the payment ofthis year's 32'7p final divi-dend to avoid ACT problems,but shareholders get an extral'5p payment for waiting.Chief executive Graham

Hawker said Hyder faced tworegulatory reviews in 2000on

• water pricing and electricityI, distribution.

"Given the uncertainty,reviewing the dividend policyis what any prudent boardwould do," he added.An analyst said: "Hyder is

not in a strong position for atough review, the balancesheet is looking prettystretched." Gearing, afterproviding in full for thegroup's windfall tax liability,

Staveley starts.'shake-up after

fall into red